diamond geezer

Monday, December 16, 2002

Clue 2: One of Channel 4's first big ratings successes, it ran for seven years and was one of my favourite TV programmes of the 1980s.

Clue 3: Breathed new life into the career of an old BBC newsreader and a TV-AM weathergirl.

Clue 4: Part game-show, part geography lesson, but mostly close-up shots of Rice's Bottom viewed from a chopper.

Clue 5: And tonight, after a twelve-and-a-half year gap, Treasure Hunt is back on our TV screens. It's swapped channels (BBC2, 6pm, every night this week). It's swapped presenters (Dermot Murnaghan replaces Kenneth Kendall and Suzi Perry replaces Anneka Rice). It's got an updated theme tune (big mistake, the original version was a classic and the new version so isn't). But, having watched tonight's relaunch, the programme itself is still a winner. One of my friends is on the production team, which must explain some of its success. And I shall be sat here with my map of Kent every night this week, willing the contestants on to the final clue...